This article is not really an article, but rather study notes about Mystery Babylon. For this reason it is kept as written so that you the Bible student can study the issue for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

By Sheila Lewis Busby

1) The only references to great city in the Greek are in the Revelation of John. The first reference definitely refers to Jerusalem"where our Lord was crucified."

Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Check out the others:

Rev. 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Rev. 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Rev. 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Rev. 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! [18] And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! [19] And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. [21] And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

2) Jerusalem is guilty of all of the blood of the righteous, saints, and prophets...

Matthew 23:34-39 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: [35] That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. [36] Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. [37] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (see also Luke 11:49-51)

… while it is Babylon who is found drunk with the blood of the saints, prophets, and all slain upon the earth.

Rev. 17:5-6 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. [6] And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Rev. 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. [24]And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Rev. 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

3) Because of her guilt, Jesus warns Jerusalem of her house being left desolate, and tells His disciples of it's destruction.

Matthew 23:37-38 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Matthew 24:1-2 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

The disciples first question to Him... WHEN will this [destruction of the temple] occur?

Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Luke 21:21-24 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. [22] For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. [23] But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. [24] And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

I am continually astonished when people view Luke 21:20-24 as a past occurrence. Considering the fact that the preceding verses as well as the following verses are nearly identical to the accounts in Matthew and Mark, and considering the fact that Dan 11:45 has the Antichrist camped out "between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain" around the time of the beginning of the great tribulation (see 12:1), and considering Rev 11:2 says the outer court of the temple is given to the nations (Gr. ethnos) who will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months, I think it is entirely probable that Jerusalem's desolation is yet future, and she "will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles (Gr. ethnos) until the times of the Gentiles (Gr. ethnos) be fulfilled."Could this desolation Jesus warns of be a part of the destruction of Mystery Babylon the Great? ... initiated by the abomination of desolation?

4) The Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, warns "the daughter of Zion", pictured here as a harlot, and describes her desolation.

Jeremiah 4:27-31 For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. [28] For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. [29] The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. [30] And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. [31] For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Compare this account to the description of Mystery Babylon in the Revelation 9 (see Rev.16:19; Rev.17:4-16).

Could this merely be a coincidence?

5) Both Jerusalem and Babylon are destroyed by forces coming from the north.

Jeremiah 1:14-15 Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. [15] For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

Jeremiah 7:34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Jeremiah 26:2 Thus saith the Lord; Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word: [9] Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

Jeremiah 50:1 The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

6) Jerusalem and Babylon both drink from the cup of the Lord's anger.

Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

Rev. 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

7) One angel with a vial said, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great HARLOT. (Rev 17:1-19:4.) Immediately after that (Rev 19:5...) the BRIDE is ready! Then in Rev. 21:9..., another angel who had a vial says Come, I will show you the BRIDE, the wife of the Lamb. Is it merely a coincidence that the bride has made herself ready only after (and immediately after) the harlot is judged?

8) Jerusalem is referred to as both a harlot and the Lord's bride.

Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. [21] How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Ezekiel 16: (read whole chapter)

Jeremiah 2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. [20] For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. (see Jer.3.)

Rev. 21:9-10 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. [10] And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

9) Just before the 7th trumpet, the two witnesses/prophets are slain in Jerusalem (see Rev. 11:8 above.) Just after the 7th trumpet is sounded, an angel declares, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great..." (Rev. 14:8.) Is it just a coincidence, or are the two events (prophets being slain and Babylon being judged) related, possibly being a fulfillment of Matt. 23:34-35?

10) It seems that Jerusalem and New Jerusalem have a lot in common, or perhaps they are one and the same.

Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. [7] How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Isaiah 60:3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. [11] Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.

Nahum 1:15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

Rev. 21:2-3 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men (Rev.13:6), and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Rev. 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, [24] And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. [25] And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. [26] And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. [27] And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

It almost seems as if Jerusalem herself is "born-again"!

11) Why have a "New Jerusalem" if the old one is still around?

12) What is the big mystery in "Mystery Babylon" if it really is the same as historical Babylon?

13) Zechariah 14:3-5 describes a day when Jesus goes to fight the enemies of Israel (Armageddon;) the Mount of Olives is split in two (earthquake?) after His feet touch it; and "you shall FLEE ..." Could this flight be in response to His command to "Come out of her, my people..." (Rev. 18:4) or "Depart, depart, go out from there" Isa 52:11? Could this earthquake be the same as the earthquake which divides the "great city" into three parts after the pouring out of the seventh vial (Rev. 16:17-19) which also makes mention of the demise of Babylon?